Fluid-pressure regulator.



PATENTED AUG. 8, 1905.

W. T. GROSLEN. FLUID PRESSURE REGULATOR.

APPLIGATION FILED SEPT. 12,1904.

UNITED STATES gaTENT OFFICE.

WILLIAM T. CROSLEN, OF OAK lARK, ILLINOIS, ASSIGNOR TO FRANK H. EARLE, TRUSTEE, OF PLANO, ILLINOIS.

FLUID-PRESSURE REGULATOR.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, WILLIAM T. GROSLEN, a citizen of the United States, residing at Oak Park, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Fluid-Pressure Regulators, of which the following is a specification.

The present invention relates to that class of devices that are adapted to receive either a gaseous or a liquid fluid under a comparatively high or varying pressure and deliver it for consumption or use under a comparatively low and uniform pressure. Devicesof this class are well understood by those skilled in the art, and the description of their general use and mode of operation is not here necessary. Suffiee it to say that the object of the present invention is to provide an improved device of this class, and particularly one that will operate successfully under either high or low pressure and that will respond to variations within a comparatively narrow range. Like most devices of this class it has achamber, hereinafter called the inlet-chamber, to which the fluid is delivered through the inlet-port; a chamber, hereinaftercalled the outlet-chamber, from which the fluid with its pressure regulated is delivered through the outlet-port; an intermediate port, through which said chambers communicate, and a valve for controlling said intermediate port. The carrying out of the invention involves the practical elimination of the pressure in the inlet-chamber by balancing or substantially balancing it in opposite directions, so that its influence upon the valve, whether the latter be seated or unseated, is practically nil. Furthermore, I use a spring or equivalent device having a known pressure for normally holding the valve unseated, and I oppose to the pressure of this spring the pressure of the fluid on the outlet side of the valve, so that when said fluid-pressure is normal the spring will hold the valve unseated, while, on the other hand, should said fluid-pressure rise above normal it will, acting through devices hereinafter described, close or partially close the'valve, as may be necessary in order to prevent an abnormal increase.

The invention consists in the features of novelty that are hereinafter described, with reference to the accompanying drawings, which are made a part of this specification, and in which-- Figures 1 and 2 are vertical sections of a Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed September 12, 1904. Serial No. 224,199-

Patented Aug. 8, 1905.

regulator embodying the invention in its preferred form, the sections being taken in planes at right angles to each other. Fig. 3 is a sectional elevation, on a smaller scale, of a regulator embodying the invention under a slight modification.

The main body of the casing is represented at 1. It is of substantially circular crosssection, but made of three diameters in order to provide the inlet-chamber 2, shoulders 3, and flanges 4. The shoulders provide seats for flexible diaphragms 5 and 6, which may be of leather, rubber, or other suitable material. These diaphragms form the top and' bottom walls, respectively, of the inlet-chamber 2 and have equal areasexposed to the pressure in said chamber, so that, disregarding for the time being certain other features hereinafter described, the pressure within this chamber will be equal upon the two diaphragms, and the diaphragms being connected by means hereinafter described will react against each other. The flanges L are internally threaded for. engaging corresponding threads on caps 7 and 8, which are hollow and provide above and below the diaphragms chambers 9 and 10, respectively. The chamber 9 is maintained at atmospheric pressure through the medium of an opening 11, into which is screwed a tube 12, the outer end of which is closed by a cap 13, perforated for the passage of a screw 14, which is swiveled to the cap and projects into the tube and carries a nut 15. This nut has a finger 16, which projects out through a longitudinal slot 17 in the side of the tube and in connection with a scale 18 indicates the pressure of a spring 19. This spring surrounds the screw 14 and bears in one direction against'the nut 15 and inthe otherdirection against the diaphragm 5. This spring is the one hereinbefore referred to which normally holds the valve 20 unseated.

This valve preferably has a conical working face and controls a port 21, through which the inlet-chamber 2 communicates with the outlet-chamber22. The valve is carried by the hereinbefore-mentioned connection between the diaphragms 5 and 6. This connection comprises a yoke 23, a threaded stem 21, rising from the top of the yoke and passing through the diaphragm 5, lock-nuts 25, turned on to said stem on opposite sides of the diaphragm, a hollow stem 26,passing through the diaphragmG and threaded for the reception of lock-nuts 27, located on opposite sides of said thed mally unseated until the pressure in the out I let-chamber 22 rises above normal, whereupon said pressurewill be transmitted,through the by-pass 28 of the stem 26, to the chamber 10 on the under side of the diaphragm 6. This pressure will act in opposition to the pressure of the spring 19, and if it exceeds the pressure for which the spring is set it will lift the diaphragm 6' and close or partially closing the valve.

In Figs-1 and 2 I have shown the by-pass 28 as being formed through the stem 26,- but this is not essential, and in Fig. 3 I have shown it as being formed in the casing and extending around the margin of the diaphragm. Thepurpose of the invention is served by any lay-pass which will convey the pressure from the outlet-chamber 22 to the chamber 10.

For the purpose of reinforcing the diaphragms a flanged metallic disk 2-9 is placed upon the outside of each of them and is clamped between the lock-nuts. In addition to this a metallic gasket 30 may, if desired,

be arranged between the clamping-surfaces of the caps 7 and 8 and the margins of the diaphragms. The purpose of these gaskets is to prevent injury to the diaphragms as the caps are being screwed home.

The outlet-chamber is in the form of a tubular projection which extends into the inlet chamber and terminates at about the center thereof, so that the port 21 connecting them is centrally located. Furthermore, the valveseat surrounding this port is parallel with the two flexible diaphragms, or, in other words, perpendicular to the movement of the valve, so that as the diaphragms move the valve moves outward and from the seat. thus ditfering from a slide-valve in which the valve proper slides upon a surface through which the port opens.

What I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. In a fluid-pressure regulator the combination with acasing having an inlet-chamber, an outlet-chamber, a port through which the chambers communicate and a valve-seat surrounding the port, of a valve adapted to said seat, diaphragms exposed to the pressure in the inlet-chamber, -said diaphragms being parallel with said valve-seat, a connection between said diaphragms carrying said valve, a third chamber in which the outer face of one,

of the diaphragms is exposed and a by-pass connecting said third chamber with the outletchamber, substantially as described.

2. In a fluid-pressure regulator the combination with a casing having an inlet-chamber,

diaphragms exposed to the pressure in the inlet-chamber, a stem connecting the diaphragms, a valve carried by said stem, an outlet-chamber projecting into the inlet-chamher, a valve-seat parallel with said diaphragms and surrounding a port through which the inlet and outlet chambers communicate, a third chamber to which the outer face of one of the diaphragms is exposed, and a by-pass connecting said third chamber with the outlet-chamber, substantially as described.

3. In a fluid-pressure regulator the combination of a casing having an inlet-chamber, diaphragms exposed to the pressure in said chamber, an outlet-chamber, a port through which said chambers communicate, a valveseat surrounding said port, said valve-seat being parallel with the diaphragms, a stern connecting said diaphragms and carrying said valve, and a third chamberin which the outer the'outer face of one of the diaphragms is exposed and a by-pass connecting said third chamber with the outlet-chamber, substantially as described.

5. In a fluid-pressure regulator the combination of a casing having inlet and outlet chambers, and an intermediate port through which they communicate, a valve for controlling said port, a stem carrying said valve, flexible diaphragms having equal areas exposed to the pressure in the inlet-chamber, one of said diaphragms being perforated for the passage of said stem, to which it is secured,

means through which the diaphragms react upon each other, a third chamber in which the outer face of one of the diaphragms is exposed, a by-pass formed in the valve-stem and connecting the third chamber with the outlet-chamber, and means exerting pressure upon the diaphragms-in opposition to the.

pressure-in the'third chamber, substantially as described.

WILLIAM T. CROSLEN. Witnesses:

'L. M. HOPKINS,

Jussrn E. LITSEY. 

